四亿 (sì yì) — four hundred million, 400,000,000

Definition

A plain compound numeral: 四 (4) × 亿 (100 million) = 400,000,000. In speech 四亿 is often read as 四万万 in older or literary contexts.

numeral

four hundred million400,000,000

Easily confused

四亿。
Zhè ge chéng shì yǒu sì yì rén kǒu.
This city has a population of 400 million.
四亿。
Gōng sī qù nián shōu rù chāo guò sì yì.
The company's revenue last year exceeded 400 million.
四亿。
Tā zhōng le sì yì cǎi piào.
He won a 400 million lottery.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 四 was drawn as a nose breathing out. It later came to be used for the word four.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 億; 亿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

意

Same sound today

The traditional form 億 pairs 人 (person) with 意 for its sound; the simplified 亿 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original pieces.